My Super Power ~ The ability to quadruple my mass when- stressed (still intact!)

Why are the girls allowed to write their diaries first? It must be a case of "saving the best for last."
Afterall, who is the only cat to proudly wear a harness and ride along on a lap? Why it's me, of course!

I've got to admit though, I really don't like going out of the house. As I stood in the foyer, I did my best to keep trying to get back into the closed inner door. When my Angel picked me up in her arms and rested me against her chest and shoulder I did start to get nervous. When we moved out the outer door into the bright sunlight, I put one paw on either side of her neck and buried my head under her chin. (You didn't think I was going to walk myself out to the car, did you?)

And... I *may* have cried (like a little girl) as the car started and pulled away from the house. (But make no mistake. I did not ever cry with the intensity or duration that the operatic divas in the back seat managed.)
And... I may have trembled a little bit too as the car roared down the road. (Although the comfort and realization of my *specialness* [I am the only cat to be able to be stroked and petted] soon calmed any fearful tremors.
And... I may have (temporarily) forgotten that I'm a "Super-Cat" with a Super Power.

Once we were through the vet hospital doors my super power activated. The ability to quadruple my mass. I was then (at least) 4 times heavier and although I may have looked like a "cat" to anyone seeing me. I knew I was a *rock.* Solid. Heavy. Unmovable.

With my super power activated, I stoically endured all compliments to my handsomeness. I endured the intrusions of the thermometer. I endured the fondling from veterinary hands.
What can hurt a rock? N-o-t-h-i-n-g!
As a rock my "exam" was over quickly. I was pronounced, healthy, handsome but heavier. (No kidding... I'm a rock!)

My super power remained activated until we were home and safely inside. Once home, I took the opportunity to feed myself. (It takes a lot of energy out of a guy to keep his super power activated for so long.)
Then it was time to make sure that my family still loves me and that I don't need to be activate my super power for another year!

What's a dude to do?

If you've been reading Pete - Angel Dreamboat #26 diaries, you've been watching the revealing of the Dreamgirls, Dreamettes, and Angel Dreamgirls.

It would seem that even having only 3 legs *counts* as "Dreamgirl" stuff *cough*Sweets*cough* and "Dreamette" status seems to be dependent upon age. [Well, we certainly know that it isn't by size, because otherwise wouldn't it be funny to call a cat *cough*Gabby*cough* a "Dreamette" who is easily the size of two cats?]

Don't worry, I didn't nominate them... (a guy can't nominate his sisfur!) I do have a "Dreamgirl" that I want to nominate, but I'm waiting for the chance. xoxoxo

I'm sure somecats out there might meow that I'm just being "sour grapes." *cough*Samoa*cough*. [Hmmm, Ishtar too]
...While it's true that Samoa hasn't seemed to hit the bottom of her "Dreamboat" talent pool yet. (You'll know when she does, she'll either stop the "Dreamboat" lists or default to picking me, simply on the fact that she's "Dreamboated" every other male cat on Catster.) I'd also like to remind you that a surly, burly, bullyboy does not a "Dreamboat" make [or even more importantly *want*]

... and before any cat can dare imply that I may be *jealous* of my sisfurs "Dreaminess" may I take a moment to remind that it was *my* portrait painted by Tyler's Mom and not any of my "dreamy" sisfurs! ~ Take that

AND... Congratulations to all the truly *deserving* Dreamgirls, Dreamettes, and Angel Dreamgirls so far!

Thanksgiving ~ Giving Thanks for Baaaaad Humans !

Catster friends, I am so thankful to be counted among your friends. Your friendship has blessed me ! I hope for those of you whose families celebrated "Thanksgiving" that you had an extra special day and maybe some tasty tidbits !

We had a nice Thanksgiving. We carnivorous cats had a lovely meal of Sweets' "chunks in gravy food." ~ That's a tasty treat. (The humans stroganoff'ed around in the kitchen.)
*Sigh* You already know that I have a weird family...

You cats ever see the tear-jerking ASPCA *donation* commercials? Usually they don't get left on the TV very long here, but tonight my Angel couldn't find the remote. The UNO had taken it with him into the computer room. Why?!? (Probably because it's nearly surgically attached to his hand ~ MoL aiieeeee !)

Anyway... You know what happens next, sure enough, doesn't this commercial jerk my Angel's tears. "How?" she is crying. "How could anyone, treat these animals as beings without feelings? How could anyone hurt these animals or abandon them?"

... I thought about it a while and then I thought some more. That's when it occurred to me that every single one of us in my family (even the smallest ones) have some bad human to "thank" for casting us off in the first place. We would have never crossed our family's path if we weren't "freed" to do so.

You know my "Gotcha" story, a story of "direct intervention" Ancho too.... Taag, Sweets, Gabby, Sookie and Ari all had the good fortune to meet other intervening good humans between their original bad ones and our family.

So, I think tonight that I am thankful for many things...
The *magical* food bowl I have that never seems to empty, warmth in the coldest months, fresh water any time, all the love and attention I want, every time that I ask for it, and of course, a harem of my very own!

But, especially I want to thank the humans who first cast us out of their lives, without that happening we couldn't have found (or been found by) our Forever Family.

Forever Thankful,
Nuk/Anuk

5Mb PHOTO UPLOAD FIX WENT LIVE

I know... It was announced that it was fixed early, but it wasn't *fully* fixed as of this morning.

Tonight though, I had Sweets upload a 4.88Mb picture and Gabby uploaded a 4.99Mb ~ SUCCESS on both !!!

Kitty Kat Talk Tag

I see how it is... I'm the last of the family to be able to play.
I read about this new game called 'Kitty Kat Talk Tag' in Colette's diary (my sisfurs were permitted to *play* last night. I was made to wait until tonight. It would seem there are *repercussions* for writing about the newest *incoming* rodent.)

This seems like it's a really easy Tag to play ~You just have to answer a few questions. So please PLAY ALONG, everyfur!

1. Your Meowmy or Dad is asleep and you are furry hungry; You would.....
Walk on them (For the WIN !) ~ Alternate answer. Get a girl cat to do the waking for me!

2. You are furry sleepy and are sleeping on a top ledge; Meowmy or Dad would say..........
Depending on what position I was sleeping in they may say different things. If I were sleeping on my side, with my paws crossed they'd call me "Prissy Paws"
If I were sleeping on my side with one paw outstretched they'd say I was "Pimping"
If I were sleeping in a legs all tucked under myself position they'd call me "Kitty Loaf" (or the lesser attractive name of "Kitty Load.")

3. You saw a dog who wants to chase something; what's the furry furst thing you would you say or do?
"Chase whatever you want, as long as it isn't me. Can I interest you in chasing a sisfur or a rodent maybe?"

4. Your Meowmy or Dad wants you to stop tearing the furniture. You would...
I'm not a furniture tearer. Talk to the speaker cover/couch clawers *coughSweetsGabbycough*

5. Your Kitty Kat emergency box, full of fur fashions, is locked. Oh No! You would....
I'm strictly nude bay-bee and so I'm going to just pretend that you *meant* to ask me "What's in your Kitty Cat Emergency Box"
a.) That's *Top Secret*
b.) If I told you, I have to make you disappear!

Okay, I don't "Tag" ~ But if you liked reading my answers and want to show me yours, consider yourself "Tagged"

HAVE FUN!!

Headbonks…

[Purposeful] Mouse in the House ~ a.k.a Pure Human Craziness

I've heard the talk now and seen the preparations going on. *Sigh* so it must be true!

If you know our family, you know my Angel is involved with a hamster rescue. Well, I guess sometimes tasty morsels
.... Excuse me, I meant *animals* come into the rescue that aren't hamsters. There's been mice in the past, gerbils, degus, there is also currently there a mother and daughter Guinea Pig named "Sophie and Lucy" (No, my Angel didn't name them, but perhaps her talking about doggy Sophie and Lucy Nooner, influenced their naming.) Little Lucy is nearly blind and really needs her sweet mother Sophie to help her in life.

But, to get back to the subject of mice. Aristotle is a Spiny Mouse (Egyptian) who came into the hamster rescue. Poor little guy has already lost his tail and bears scars on his ears from past encounters.

A group of nearly 20 of these mice were relinquished by their breeder. "Any Time At All" (Rescue in Auburn PA) has the majority of them and "Given a Chance" rescue has the "loner" Aristotle.

All of the females are on "pregnancy watch" for the next month and a half, but the males are adoptable. While their "breeder" handled them often and they are all very sweet, they were also kept in very crowded conditions. In cages too small for their groupings, which is how we think Aristotle lost his tail. Unlike most Spiny mice though Aristotle is not social with others of his kind and can not be housed with other spiny mice. (Are you seeing a pattern in our family's apparent predisposition toward 'anti-social' rodents?)

Poor little guy, once the tail is lost, it will never grow back. Spiny mice are very social in the wild and usually must be adopted out/live in groups of triplets or more. Fights though will occur in overcrowded conditions or with a grouping with too many males in it. Overcrowded conditions will also lead to tail eating by others in the grouping or by the mouse himself/herself. Tails can also be lost through improper/rough handling. (I would hope the *breeder* was not guilty of that.) Their tails are very fragile and easily deglove.

I heard my Angel on the phone to the UNO about Aristotle and asking what he thought about a "mouse in the house." The UNO agreed before even seeing/meeting Aristotle. My Angel was surprised at how receptive the UNO was. A mouse!

You knew how this story would end when I started it, no? ;) On Saturday they're going to bring him home.

Irene was an angry, wet lady

Some Photos
Bethlehem's Colonial Industrial Quarter

Lehigh Valley Photos of Irene's rampage

A newspaper article:
Bethlehem's damage

There are still pockets of people without power. Pennsylvania Power and Light reported that more than 1 in 4 people lost power through Irene's rampage. (2 of Papa's workers still had no power this morning)

Our power went off twice, but only briefly and we only had ankle deep water in the basement, not hip deep. We are so lucky and blessed and we send our purrs out to any families still being affected.

Phrustrating Photos [HQ Updates] and a Hurricane Check In- Thread for Plus and Non Plus Members

I have an update for you. It seems that our photo uploader has stopped being able to auto-resize photo files larger than 2 Mb. The Techno Cats are working on it, but in the meantime members who resize their photos to be less than 2 Mb have been having luck getting new photos to post.

We know resizing is inconvenient, so we're going to get it fixed, but wanted you to know what you can do in the meantime for getting new pics on your pet pages.

Meows! & Purrrrsssss

-watch cat-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sorry about the photo ordering not working. We've determined that with less than 100 photos, ordering can still be done and the Techno Cats are working to fix the system so all 200 photos can be ordered properly.

Thank you for your patience while we get this problem fixed.

Meows! & Purrrrsssss

-watch cat-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~


Our sweet, thoughtful and caring friend Lacey started a Hurricane Irene 'Check In" thread.

HURRICANE CHECK IN AND HURRICANE CENTRAL (Plus Members)

and because what I love about Catster is our friends and I want to know that ALL of our friends are safe and sound. I took her idea (with credit to her, of course) and started a duplicate of her thread in the Non Plus Forum Section:

HURRICANE CHECK IN and HURRICANE CENTRAL (Non Plus)

Irene Today 4:07pm (EDT)

*Ahem* I Think It's SIZE Not BEAUTY That's The [Photo]- Problem...

I will be the first to admit that Lucy is beautiful.

But, I think our photo uploading problems are problems of size...

Sweets did a test with a photo of hers. (Bewarned, I'm about to talk some 'Image Mumbo-Jumbo.')

Our photos *natural* Dimensions [Height and Width or Width and Height] out of the camera are 4608H X 3072W or 3072W X 4608H
With a Resolution of 300 pixels per inch and (Total) File Size 7.03MB
We used to be able to take any photo off our camera, download it onto our computer and then upload it to Catster. Now it seems we can't... It took Sweets several re-sizings to get her photo uploaded.

Here is the text log of our test (for TechnoCats)

Image FAIL @ Dimensions 3072 X 4608 (full size of out camera) Resolution 300 pixels per inch File Size 7.03MB
(and by "FAIL" I mean "Dang, there was a problem reading this file.)

Image FAIL @ Dimensions 2667 X 4000 Resolution 300 pixels per inch File Size 5.06MB

Image FAIL @ Dimensions 2370 X 3555 Resolution 300 pixels per inch File Size 4.05MB

Image FAIL @ Dimensions 2000 X 3000 Resolution 300 pixels per inch File Size 2.90MB

Image SUCCESS @ Dimensions 1333 X 2000 Resolution 300 pixels per inch File Size 1.29MB

Catster re-sized the successful upload to 436W X 629H (It still appears a nice large size in her "Plus Photobook")

{End of TechnoCat Stuff}

Aiming for an image with a total file size under 2 MB (for now) will hopefully allow success for frustrated photo uploaders. On Monday morning, I want to mail support with my findings (and yes I have screenshots of it all) and get clarification on whether there are image *restrictions* in place now and what they are.

It appears that either the Dimensions of the picture (Height by Width) or the Total MB File Size have restrictions. (Those are the only 2 values that changed in Sweets' test(s). Resolution did not.)

Girl Cats Aren't Listening!!!

I found myself tonight remembering that *thing* Taag used to do. The "start screaming as if you're being murdered when in actuality you're only being looked at." thing....

That *thing* used to get me in a lot of trouble because I was a mannerless wild man and my family assumed I was up to no good. It wasn't until they actually saw Taag screaming and me nowhere near her, that my innocence was 'proven.'

Sweets has been perfecting Taag's *thing* and is now the Mistress of it! She did it just last night.
Ok... It was true that I was sitting staring at her and yes, that usually means my next move is an *energetic* one. But to preemptively start screaming before I've pounced or raised a paw, what is that about?
[This is how she gets the idea in her mind that she rules this house. She is able to make trouble for me, before I can even make it myself!.]

What about that sweet southern belle Gabby? Well, it would seem (as I once predicted) that the Pennsylvania sucked all the sweetness out of her. She's now defiant. My sweet little belle who was always so compliant...

She's been taking over the coffee table. In the evenings she likes to lie on it, like I do. (The problem is, even when there's room for the two of us, I don't want to share.) She's been seeing it *free* and climbing up on it and resting herself there.

I'll jump up and walk around her. She gets a nervous look in her eye because she knows that I'm about to invoke rule №3 (which is: If a *place* is mine [Nuk's] and it's unoccupied, that *place* may only be occupied by another cat UNTIL I come to re-claim it.)

So I stand and give her the *look* which says "I have come to reclaim MY place."
... and she does not move. She just sits there with a slightly dull, defiant look on her face.

I raise one of my front paws off the table and let it hang there in the air. Sending the message "I have hit you on your furry head before, I will do it again. Please and with haste, un-occupy my *place.*"
... and she does not move.

Through all this, my Angel and the UNO are watching, so it's not as if I can just let loose with a Sweets Style Lightning Fast Smacky Paw of Justice. I have to play it cool to not look like such a 'bad guy.'

I lower my head and move my mouth close to Gabby's ear. That's a super scary move. Am I going to bite, whisper malicious nothings, issue threats?
... and she still does NOT move.

But that last move was judged to be "going too far" and brought the UNO up off of the couch and over to the table to tell *me* to get down. Me?!?
... and to demonstrate that *I* know how to listen, I did get down. I went over to the corner of the entertainment center and found something completely fascinating about my rear toe claws.

Out of the corner of my eye I watched Gabby contentedly stretch herself out to take up even more room on the coffee table and lay her head down. I crept closer and closer back to the table, but I did nothing. I was waiting for Gabby to notice and start something with me herself. But she was blissful in her victory.

I waited a bit more and went over to the UNO's side of the couch. All the while making my softest, most lovey-ist face that I could. He invited me up on the couch, but I looked longingly at *my* coffee table. "Oh" he said. "Yes, you've waited very patiently, watch this."
The UNO stood up, rattled the container where Gabby's daily allotment of food is and fed her her last food serving of the night. Gabby shot down off that table in a furry blur and ran over to her food bowl.

I quickly reclaimed *my* coffee table then and there I've stayed until now....